When a customer messages asking "where is my order?", do you know exactly where that ticket is and who is in charge? If you have to guess or open each chat tab to check, it's likely that the customer's request has been forgotten for a long time. So how can the whole team always know which tickets are being processed, which tickets are waiting, and which tickets are completed?
The answer lies in the ticket status lifecycle, the standard status chain that a ticket goes through from receipt to completion: New → Open → On hold → Resolved → Closed. Each status answers the question "where is this ticket and who is doing what", helping the team not guess, not miss work and measure processing time. A clear state lifecycle is the foundation for any helpdesk report to be meaningful. According to Zenify data, businesses with full ticket status tracking reduce operating costs by 35%. Let's go state by state, with what to do and common risks.
TL;DR
- Standard life cycle: New → Open → On hold → Resolved → Closed.
- Each state has a meaning and who "owns" that state.
- On hold is only used when waiting for customers/external channels, not a difficult place to hide tickets.
- Resolved = resolved but not confirmed; Closed = customer confirms or wait ends.
- Clear state is a condition for measuring SLA and resolution time.
5 basic states
The standard life cycle includes 5 main states. Below is the meaning and what to do in each state:
1. New (Mới)
Tickets have just been received, no one has processed them yet. At this stage, the ticket is in the waiting queue, waiting to be classified and assigned. If it stays in New for a long time, it means no one reads it, so there needs to be an overdue classification warning.
2. Open (Đang xử lý)
Ticket assigned to an owner, being processed. Owners update content when there is progress, don't keep customers waiting in silence. Note: "Open" lasting indefinitely is a sign that an SLA is needed and a warning is needed.
3. On hold (Pause)
Ticket is paused because of external factors, not because the team hasn't handled it yet.
Correct examples: waiting for customers to provide information, waiting for suppliers, waiting for other departments.
Wrong example: set On hold to "hide" a difficult ticket that you don't know how to do. This is Open in disguise.
The person placing On hold must clearly state "wait for what and when". Because On Hold tickets can easily be forgotten after a long time, there needs to be an On Hold expiration date.
4. Resolved
The team has finished processing and is waiting for the customer to confirm. The processing staff notifies the customer, waiting for a confirmation response. The biggest risk is not confirming with the customer and then switching Closed yourself, making the customer still frustrated that the ticket is "done".
5. Closed (Closed)
Ticket ends: customer confirms satisfaction, or waiting time expires (e.g. no response after 3 days). When closing, note the solution for documentation (see Knowledge base for helpdesk). Closed is also a source for measuring resolution time and first pass rate.
Standard state transition rules
In order for the whole team to use the same language, you should agree on status transition rules as shown in the table below:
Từ | Đến | Điều kiện
New | Open | Categorized + assigned
Open | On hold | Wait outside, clearly state the reason + deadline
On hold | Open | Hết chờ, tiếp tục xử lý
Open | Resolved | Processing completed, waiting for customer confirmation
Resolved | Open | Customers are not satisfied, continue working
Resolved | Closed | Guest confirms / timeout
Finally, there are three golden rules you should keep in mind:
There must be a reason for each status change: Do not change the status without updating the content.
On hold always has an expiration date: avoid tickets being stuck forever.
Do not automatically switch Resolved → Closed without confirming with the customer.
Why clear status is important
Because reporting and SLAs are only meaningful when the status is correct. If the team uses statuses out of habit, for example everyone sets "Processing", you will not know:
What is the actual processing time?
Which ticket is stuck On hold for too long?
How many tickets have not been confirmed but have been closed.
Besides, the standard status also helps new employees immediately understand their job, because everyone can read the general status board of the customer care department.